Stewart Mandel, who seems to genuinely like West Virginia as a team, tackled the notion of Ohio State jumping the Mountaineers in the BCS rankings. In my opinion, he makes a great point. Also, Dan from Kalamazoo is an idiot.

Why are the Buckeyes getting no love for the NC game? I have not heard anyone talk about the possibility of OSU jumping West Virginia. Let me remind you that OSU’s sole loss was to 15th-ranked Illinois, where West Virginia lost to 25th-ranked USF.

–Dan, Kalamazoo, Mich.

Now I won’t go that far. While in reality, the primary reason the Mountaineers are ahead of Ohio State is because they lost less recently, there’s no question in my mind they’re the more deserving team, for two reasons.

Ohio State lost at home to 9-3 Illinois, whereas West Virginia lost on the road to 9-3 USF in a game in which it lost its star quarterback. And, more importantly, the Mountaineers played a much more impressive non-conference slate. While the Buckeyes were beating up on I-AA Youngstown State (38-6), 3-9 Kent State (48-3), 4-8 Akron (20-2) and 4-8 Washington (33-14), West Virginia had similar ease with three impending bowl teams: 7-5 Mississippi State (38-13), 7-5 East Carolina (48-7) and 6-6 Maryland (31-14).

And Ohio State DID NOT lose to 15th ranked IIlinois, they lost to UNRANKED Illinois, who subsequently became ranked. Just as WVU did not lose to 25th ranked USF, I cannot remember what their ranking was at the time but it was higher.